Indiana Statehouse
The Indiana Statehouse is the state capitol building of the U.S. state of Indiana. Housing the Indiana General Assembly, the office of the Governor of Indiana, the Indiana Supreme Court, and other state officials, it is located in the state capital of Indianapolis at 200 West Washington Street. Built in 1888, it is the fifth building to house the state government.
The first state house, located in Corydon, Indiana, is still standing and is maintained as a state historic site. The second building was the old Marion County courthouse which was demolished and replaced in the early 20th century. The third building was a structure modeled on the Parthenon, but was condemned in 1877 because of structural defects and razed so the current statehouse could be built on its location.
History
First State House
When Indiana became a state in 1816, the capital was located in Corydon. The first capitol building was a humble, two-story limestone building constructed in 1813 to house the legislature of the Indiana Territory. The building was constructed by a company owned by Dennis Pennington, a member of the early territorial legislature. Construction cost $1,500, paid for by the citizens of Harrison County, and was completed in three years. It measured forty-feet square with walls two-feet-thick and ten-foot ceilings. The building was made of limestone cut from a nearby quarry and, at the time of its completion, was one of the largest buildings in the state.The capitol contained three rooms and quickly became too small for the state government, which had to erect additional office buildings across the street for the state's administration. The lower floor of the statehouse was used by the Indiana House of Representatives. The upper floor was split into two rooms, one for the Indiana State Senate and another for the Indiana Supreme Court, with a narrow hall between them. The building was abandoned as the capitol in 1824 and was given to Harrison County to use as a courthouse. The old capitol building is still preserved and is now a state historic site.
Second State House
When the state government relocated to Indianapolis in December 1824, the government was housed in the Marion County Courthouse. The courthouse had been constructed with state funds in 1822 after Indianapolis was chosen as the site for the new capitol. The courthouse served as the state capitol building for twelve years. At the time Indianapolis was a frontier site, nearly from the nearest settlement of significance, making large scale construction impractical.The relocation to Indianapolis was an arduous task. At the time it was an eleven-day journey by horseback from Corydon to the new capital. To complicate matters, no road existed and a path for the wagons had to be cut through the dense forests during the winter transit as the long caravan moved north. The caravan was large because it contained the state treasury, state library, state records, the furniture of the General Assembly, Supreme Court, and Executive Offices, along with a whole host of other implements to aid the caravan on its long journey. Colonel Samuel Merrill, the state treasurer, was authorized by the General Assembly to oversee the move. Ultimately, it took more than a month to relocate the government to Indianapolis. The first session of the General Assembly convened there in January 1825.
Third State House
In 1831, the Indiana General Assembly approved construction of a new State House. The building was to be funded by the sale of lots of land in Indianapolis. A commission was established and Commissioner James Blake offered a $150 prize to the architect who could design the best state house. The firm of Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis created the winning design. Their plans were for a structure that was inspired by the ancient Greek Parthenon. The building looked very much like the Parthenon except for a large central dome. Town and Davis was awarded the contract to construct the building, and completed it ahead of schedule in 1835.The State House was built of blue limestone, two stories high. The governor and the Supreme Court occupied the lower floor, and the legislature occupied the upper floor, with each house in its own wing. The building was the site of many great events in its history, including a bier for Abraham Lincoln. The building was popular after its construction but by the 1860s Greek Revival architecture had fallen out of style, and the building was beginning to become decrepit. The building's limestone foundation began to fail, and many feared a general structural collapse of the building. In 1867 the ceiling in the chambers of the Indiana House of Representative collapsed. A debate was held in 1873 about how to preserve the building but no solution was found. By the time that Governor James Williams was elected to office, the building was about to be condemned. It was finally demolished in 1877.
Fourth State House
When the third State House was condemned in 1876 the government abandoned the building. The General Assembly relocated to a large office building that had been built in 1865 and was already housing the Supreme Court. The Governor and the executive staff relocated to another office building. The office building was used as the state house during the interim period that the new state house was being built. In 1887, before the new state house had been completed, enough of the lower floors were usable for the government to move out of the cramped office space and begin holding sessions in the new structure.Current State House
Construction
With Indiana's rapid increase of population during the middle of the 19th century, the state's government increased in size, causing the previous capitol building to become crowded. In 1865, a state office building had to be constructed to house some of the burgeoning government, and the Supreme Court and several bureaus were relocated into the new building. When the state house was condemned in 1877, the state was without a real capitol building, and the administration of Governor James D. Williams proposed the construction of the current state capitol building. The plan was approved by the Indiana General Assembly during the legislative session of 1878. After the third state capitol building had been razed, the new building was constructed on the same site. Two million dollars were appropriated for construction of the new building, and it was completed in 1888. Governor Williams, who was famed for his frugality, was able to complete the project for $1.8 million and returned the extra $200,000 to the general fund.A team of commissioners, including former Civil War general and civil engineer Thomas A. Morris, planned and oversaw the project. The structure was designed by Edwin May, an Indianapolis architect. Not wanting to repeat the mistakes made in the construction of the previous statehouse, the legislature required the new capitol to be built on a solid foundation so that it would last for many decades. Construction began in 1880 and the cornerstone was laid on September 28. Edwin May died in February of that year, and Adolph Sherrer supervised the project for the entire construction period. The interior was modeled in the Italian Renaissance style. Wherever possible, materials native to Indiana were used. Doors were made of Indiana oak, and Indiana limestone was used throughout the structure. The building's cornerstone is a ten-ton block of limestone quarried in Spencer, Indiana. The central dome was completed in 1883. The building was also wired for electricity, even though Indianapolis did not yet have an electrical power grid. In 1887, the new capitol was sufficiently finished for the first legislative session to be held there. Construction ultimately endured eight years, and the building was finally completed in October 1888. With the pinnacle of the building reaching high, it was the second-tallest building in the state at the time of its completion.
A hole was bored in the cornerstone, and a time capsule was placed inside containing forty-two items. The items included annual reports from all the government agencies, a Bible, samples of several varieties of crops grown in Indiana, several new coins, local maps and newspapers, a book on the history of Indianapolis, and pamphlets from many of the city's institutions.
The building is designed in the shape of a cross. A large central rotunda with a glass domed ceiling connects the four wings. The structure is four stories high. The first floor houses the executive offices of the administration. Offices for the Indiana House of Representatives are on the second floor's east side, while those for the Indiana State Senate are on the second floor's west side. Offices of the Indiana Supreme Court are on the north end of the second floor. The seventy-thousand volume Supreme Court Law Library is located on third floor. The third floor also holds the House, Senate, and Supreme Court chambers, and the fourth floor holds the Indiana Court of Appeals courtroom and the offices of nine of the fifteen judges on the Court. Additional executive office and storage space. The building was constructed for the purpose of holding the entire government of the state. For several decades, all the government bureaus were housed within the building, until the government again outgrew the structure; most of the state's bureaus have gradually been moved out of the building. In front of the State House stands a statue of Oliver Morton, governor of Indiana during the Civil War.
Renovation
In 1988, the administration of Governor Robert D. Orr proposed that the Indiana General Assembly renovate the state house as part of "Hoosier Celebration '88", the year of the building's 100th anniversary. The General Assembly approved, and the building had an extensive, $11 million renovation that continued until 1995.During the renovation process, all of the state house's stonework, consisting of marble, granite, and limestone columns and blocks, was cleaned and polished. All of the building's woodwork was repaired or replaced. Broken glass in the central dome skylight was replaced. The building's lighting was updated with new chandeliers based on the original designs, and most interior walls were repainted. The building was wired for a new data network to make the building ready for 21st-century technology.
In 1984, the Indiana State House was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and it remains a protected building. The state house is open for public tours during the work week and with limited tours during weekend mornings.